Brian Dowd

Debut day for Quinn Mathews!

Current NHL players by birth month: January - 99 February - 93 March - 87 April - 71 May - 83 June - 57 July - 73 August - 46 September - 56 October - 67 November - 64 December - 56

While Coach Oats provided his perspective earlier today on Charles Bediako and the process of him becoming eligible to compete for the Crimson Tide, I wanted to follow up with some additional thoughts. I think it’s safe to say the majority of us have concerns about the state of college athletics and are all for uniformity versus inconsistencies.   There are many programs across the country with former G League and EuroLeague players on their rosters who have been deemed eligible. At the end of the day, these are men with professional basketball experience that are now playing in college. The distinctions between those cases and Charles’ situation are without real differences. A professional contract should be a professional contract. Why should a student-athlete who earned millions competing professionally overseas be eligible to return to college, while someone earning $50,000 annually in the NBA G League is not? Similarly, an athlete who leaves high school for professional basketball returning to college later is okay, while a student who entered the draft during college, perhaps based on incomplete or poor advice, may be barred. These distinctions are impossible to explain, undermine confidence in the system and do not meaningfully advance the educational mission of college athletics.   That said, we must remain competitive and act in the best interest of our teams. As Coach Oats stated, Charles is still within his five-year window, is 23 years old and started classes again this semester to work towards degree completion. He’s also not taking away any opportunities from a high school prospect or anyone else with there being a vacant roster spot.   If this particular case can help shape the future of the sport, and better regulation of college athletics as a whole, we welcome that.